Michelle Gamber
Orlando
Summary
Dynamic Program Manager with extensive technical expertise in public health, development, and humanitarian assistance. Proven ability to lead multi-year health and food security initiatives, achieving measurable outcomes through effective stakeholder engagement. Demonstrates strong skills in policy development and compliance oversight, driving successful humanitarian responses while building strategic partnerships. Committed to enhancing team performance and fostering resilience in vulnerable communities.
Overview
19
19
years of professional experience
Work History
Program Manager & Technical Advisor
USAID
12.2023 - 03.2025
- Company Overview: Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), DC/Remote.
- Served as a technical expert for the Agriculture team supporting food security and resilience initiatives within BHA.
- Directed team initiatives and crafted program strategies for health-related disaster responses.
- Supervised 5-year award supporting emergency and resilience programs across BHA.
- Developed and maintained a detailed understanding of BHA’s program strategy, implementation, complete program cycle, and management of awards.
- Led technical and organizational initiatives to establish policies and strategic positions.
- Reviewed award documentation in compliance with BHA’s grant guidelines.
- Facilitated discussions with NGO partners, PIOs, donor agencies, USG agencies, international community and United Nations.
- Served in leadership, planning, or program positions on response teams, assessment teams, or to provide coverage for field offices and BHA headquarters.
- Promoted USAID and BHA priorities within the humanitarian community of practice.
- Coordinated within BHA, USAID, and other USG organizations to fulfill response strategies and goals.
- Coordinated and liaised on response activities with U.S. government agencies and external organizations.
Acting Team Lead - Gender, Age and Social Inclusion Advisor (GASI)
USAID
03.2020 - 12.2023
- Company Overview: Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, Protection and Community Capacity Division, Washington, DC
- Directed the Gender, Age and Social Inclusion (GASI) team within the PCC Division.
- Directed team of technical advisors and program assistant on GASI team.
- Demonstrated commitment to creating an inclusive and respectful work environment.
- Engaged with senior levels of USG and humanitarian stakeholders to address key concerns.
- Provided leadership and planning for response and assessment teams.
- Implemented strategic methods to reduce inequalities impacting vulnerable groups during crises.
- Provided expertise and solutions for humanitarian aid initiatives.
Gender, Age and Social Inclusion Advisor (GASI)
USAID
03.2020 - 12.2023
- Company Overview: Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, Protection and Community Capacity Division, Washington, DC
- Served as technical advisor for the Gender, Age, and Social Inclusion (GASI) team in PCC Division.
- Served in a technical advisor role for the following responses: Ethiopia (9 months), Ukraine (9 months), Gaza (4 months), and Syria (2 years).
- Provided technical aid for BHA emergency and ER4 programming focused on women, youth, and disability.
- Spearheaded activity management on a GASI 5-year award supporting emergency programs within BHA.
- Spearheaded technical input on policies, guidance, positions, or communication materials related to gender equality, women’s empowerment, diversity, age, disability and social inclusion issues
- Directed and executed award processing following BHA’s Grant Guidelines, USAID ADS, Federal regulations.
- Participated in global humanitarian gatherings with UN agencies, technical clusters, NGOs, donors, and country representatives.
- Participated in donor meetings as a representative of BHA/PCC to address humanitarian and disaster response challenges.
- Directed colleagues towards understanding of innovative research, optimal practices, and guidelines from USG and USAID regarding GASI.
- Conducted research and analysis to formulate policy recommendations on humanitarian assistance.
- Directed strategies to tackle fundamental inequalities that affect group vulnerability during crises.
- Collaborated with BHA and USAID personnel, stakeholders, policymakers, and affected communities to ensure assistance remains safe, fair, and effective.
- Focused on reducing the adverse effects of COVID-19 on vulnerable and marginalized groups.
- Evaluated community capacity to confirm availability of necessary resources for international response.
- Oversaw development of diverse regional and country strategies across operational teams.
- Delivered concise briefings and authored detailed written reports.
- Formulated and enhanced policy initiatives.
- Guaranteed compliance of BHA emergency, early recovery, risk reduction, and resilience programming with gender, age, disability and social inclusion requirements.
- Led communication efforts with multiple USG offices within BHA on various technical areas.
- Partnered with federal agencies on international disaster responses.
Founding Director of Graduate Public Health Programs
Shenandoah University
08.2016 - 03.2020
- Company Overview: School of Health Professions, Winchester, VA.
- Spearheaded development of MPH and post-Graduate Public Health Certificate program.
- Delivered graduate-level MPH program courses on qualitative methods, behavior change communication, global health, and women's health.
- Oversaw allocation of financial resources to ensure effective execution.
- Facilitated the enrollment of prospective students into courses.
- Oversaw a diverse team of full-time, part-time, and adjunct MPH faculty.
- Recruited and onboarded MPH faculty across varying employment types.
- Advised all students in all graduate public health programs
- Collaborated with other Health Professions programs at the University and contributed to interprofessional education opportunities
- Established relationships with undergraduate Health Sciences programs
- Facilitated the establishment of working relationships with community health partners for faculty and staff engagement.
- Identified potential grants to enhance research initiatives for the MPH program.
- Engaged in research, scholarship and practice activities and published 23 peer-reviewed publications
- School of Health Professions, Winchester, VA
Senior Associate, Survey Manager for the DHS Program
ICF International
06.2015 - 07.2016
- Company Overview: Rockville, MA, USA
- Facilitated host-country agencies in conducting comprehensive surveys within the USAID-funded DHS program.
- Guided adaptation of DHS standard questionnaires for in-country use (paper and CAPI surveys).
- Provided comprehensive training to local interviewers and supervisor staff on DHS methodology.
- Directed the activities of field staff and monitored data collection.
- Oversaw financial planning for both local and central budgets.
- Monitored data collection process during fieldwork.
- Supervised drafting and editing of survey findings reports.
- Advised on collecting biomarkers such as anemia, malaria, HIV testing, height and weight.
- Engaged in various DHS project tasks, such as further analysis studies.
Global Health Fellows Program
USAID
10.2014 - 06.2015
- Company Overview: Technical Advisor, Office of Population and Reproductive Health, Global Health Bureau, Washington, D.C.
- Led design and implementation of cost-effective family planning strategies in USAID programs.
- Supplied technical support to office, implementing partners and mission teams on research topics.
- Evaluated proposals and documents to ensure technical accuracy in family planning.
- Directed research efforts for family planning initiatives funded centrally.
- Evaluated research programs during field visits.
- Participated in strategic planning sessions during programming discussions.
- Offered gender and family planning technical assistance to USAID's Office of Food for Peace.
- Facilitated gender support in emergency and development programs.
- Participated in Global Health and DCHA Gender Advisors working group to support gender activity guidance within the bureau.
- Actively represented PRH at Global Health’s youth working group.
- Led initiatives to integrate family planning with food security and nutrition programs.
- Oversaw technical aspects within PRH/RTU projects.
- Facilitated coordination with federal agencies to schedule family planning discussions.
The American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) Diplomacy, Security, and Development Fellow
USAID
08.2012 - 10.2014
- Company Overview: Gender Advisor, Office of Food for Peace, Washington, DC
- Guided the design, implementation, and evaluation of technically sound and cost-effective approaches for MCHN and Gender in Food for Peace’s (FFP) emergency and non-emergency programs.
- Provided technical assistance on MCHN and gender issues to FFP staff, cooperating agencies, and mission staff.
- Participated in global humanitarian conferences alongside UN agencies, NGOs, donors, and country representatives.
- Participated in international and USG interagency forums addressing humanitarian assistance and development issues.
- Conducted thorough review of development and emergency food security proposals ensuring gender and MCHN integration.
- Reviewed and applied gender analysis processes in development programs.
- Incorporated gender analysis results into program activities through partner guidance.
- Led training sessions on gender awareness for DC staff, field personnel, and NGO programmers.
- Led strategic planning in programming and policy discussions.
- Coordinated with USG offices on technical and policy matters.
- Managed coordination with federal agencies on international disaster responses and development.
Field Coordinator
Bahir Dar University
Addis Ababa And Bahir Dar
01.2009 - 01.2012
- Fostered productive collaboration among University of Arizona, Bahir Dar University, and USAID Ethiopia mission office.
- Oversaw and coordinated all grant activities, including meetings with Government of Ethiopia Officials, NGOs, UN Agencies, and donors.
- Directed and mentored local faculty at Bahir Dar University in the MSc program.
- Engaged with humanitarian partners across Ethiopia.
- Directed monitoring and evaluation tasks to enhance data collection processes.
- Developed and facilitated interactive training on Disaster Risk Reduction across virtual and physical platforms.
Technical Advisor
British Red Cross
Niamey, Maradi and Agadez
05.2006 - 05.2008
- Oversaw food security initiatives during the 2006 famine in Niger.
- Collected anthropometric data and provided training on measurement techniques
- Facilitated focus group sessions with female community members.
- Directed field team members.
- Recruited and mentored enumerators for data gathering.
- Conducted in-depth analysis of qualitative focus group data using content analysis methodologies.
- Conducted in-depth analysis of nutritional and anthropometric data on children using EpiInfo and STATA.
- Managed preparation of the final report for submission to British Red Cross.
Education
DrPH - Maternal and Child Health
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZMPH - Epidemiology
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZMA - Anthropology
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MIBA - Anthropology & Biology
Rollins College
Winter Park, FLSkills
- Project management
- Training development
- Budget management
- Team leadership
- Quality assurance evaluation
- MS office applications
- Presentation creation and delivery
- Compliance enforcement
- Data collection & research
- Stakeholder communications
- Proposal development
- Program evaluation
- Grant compliance
- Data analysis
- Policy development
- Stakeholder engagement
Recent Employment History
- Program Manager & Technical Advisor, USAID, Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, Washington, DC, 12/01/23, 04/30/25, Led as a technical expert for the Agriculture team to support agriculture, food security and Early Recovery, Risk Reduction, and Resilience interventions within BHA., Managed a 5-year award that aims to support emergency and resilience programs throughout BHA.
- Acting Team Lead - Gender, Age and Social Inclusion Advisor (GASI), USAID, Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, Protection and Community Capacity Division, Washington, DC, 03/01/20, 12/31/23, Led the Gender, Age and Social Inclusion (GASI) team within the PCC Division and the Office of Technical and Program Quality.
- Gender, Age and Social Inclusion Advisor (GASI), USAID, Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, Protection and Community Capacity Division, Washington, DC, 03/01/20, 01/31/22, Led as a technical advisor and technical expert on the Gender, Age and Social Inclusion (GASI) team.
Relevant Global Health Development Experience
Founding Director of Graduate Public Health Programs, School of Health Professions, Shenandoah University, Winchester, VA, 08/01/16, 03/31/20, Led, created, managed, directed and oversaw all aspects of the MPH and post-Graduate Public Health Certificate program.
Other Relevant Fieldwork Experience
Dissertation Research, The Ivory Tower: Environment of Empowerment and Risk for Female Students at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, 01/01/09, 01/31/12, Designed and administered quantitative and qualitative study instruments for primary research.
Consultancies
Banyan Global and Abt. Associates, Health Systems Strengthening Project funded by USAID, 10/01/19, 11/30/19, Created Gender Strategy for a USAID funded Health Systems Strengthening Project.
References
Available upon request
Citizenship Clearance
Secret (active), United States
Technical Skills
Over 20 years of experience overseeing complex public health operations, supervising multidisciplinary teams, and leading large-scale community health programs across multiple jurisdictions., Extensive experience in designing, implementing, and managing programs in emergency and non-emergency settings., Advanced skills in managing and conducting quantitative and qualitative research., STATA, SPSS, EpiInfo, Atlas.ti, NVivo, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop
Languages
English
Native/ Bilingual
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Program Manager & Technical Advisor
USAID
12.2023 - 03.2025
Acting Team Lead - Gender, Age and Social Inclusion Advisor (GASI)
USAID
03.2020 - 12.2023
Gender, Age and Social Inclusion Advisor (GASI)
USAID
03.2020 - 12.2023
Founding Director of Graduate Public Health Programs
Shenandoah University
08.2016 - 03.2020
Senior Associate, Survey Manager for the DHS Program
ICF International
06.2015 - 07.2016
Global Health Fellows Program
USAID
10.2014 - 06.2015
The American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) Diplomacy, Security, and Development Fellow
USAID
08.2012 - 10.2014
Field Coordinator
Bahir Dar University
01.2009 - 01.2012
Technical Advisor
British Red Cross
05.2006 - 05.2008
DrPH - Maternal and Child Health
University of Arizona
MPH - Epidemiology
University of Arizona
MA - Anthropology
Western Michigan University
BA - Anthropology & Biology
Rollins College
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